Bush camp snubs Chrétien — again

The Toronto Star ^ | 10/20/03 | Alexander Panetta

[Modernman]

Chretien has thrown away 100 years of Canadian-American friendship. He should have been in DC the day after 9/11 and should have definitely been sitting next to Tony Blair at Bush's State of the Union speech that week. Don't even get me started on Iraq. The Canadian military was chomping at the bit to go fight in Iraq, but Chretien decided to keep them home.

As an ex-patriate Canuck, I'm ashamed of the Canadian government.

Bumper Sticker seen on an 18-wheeler with Alberta plates: Friends Don't Let Friends Fight Alone- God Bless America.

[Dialup Llama]

Bush to Chretien- "Bleau mi."

[military cop]

That's cool. You can hang out in the states with us.

[Monti Cello]

Chretien has thrown away 100 years of Canadian-American friendship.

One jackass can't do that. We will just bide our time until the Canadian population wakes up, or some western provinces come aboard as US states, whichever comes first.

[Modernman]

That's cool. You can hang out in the states with us.

As a conservative Canadian, I'm claiming political refugee status :-)

[military cop]

Granted.

Welcome.

[Snuffington]

Bumper Sticker seen on an 18-wheeler with Alberta plates: Friends Don't Let Friends Fight Alone- God Bless America.

Well that's Alberta. Probably won't see many of those in Chretien's Quebec. Probably not many in Toronto either.

I agree with you about Chretien. The man almost single-handedly turned Canada from our Friendly Northern Neighbor into Frozen France in the mind of the average American. It's not that the U. S. now sees Canada as an enemy. But they also no longer think of Canada as much of a friend, and that's rather remarkable.

[Modernman]

We will just bide our time until the Canadian population wakes up, or some western provinces come aboard as US states, whichever comes first.

Here's hoping. My experience, which is purely anecdotal, is that a lot of Canadians feel that the Chretien government's stand on Iraq only hurt Canada- they haven't acquired any new friends in the world and have pissed off their neighbor and biggest trading partner. They're starting to wonder what the point was in pissing off the US. Nobody was expecting Canada to send an armored division, but some special forces to hunt scuds or some military police to escort convoys would have gone a long way towards healing any rift.

[Modernman]

The man almost single-handedly turned Canada from our Friendly Northern Neighbor into Frozen France

Ouch. I wish there was some way to rebut that statement, but I fear it's true.

There is some hope, though. The two Canadian conservative parties (the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives) look like they finally might be able to pull off a merger. Alliance is the bigger party and is based in the West. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[alloysteel]

What is the phrase, "Lead, follow, or get the H*ll out of the way" supposed to mean, if the entity at which it is directed refuses to understand?

[gaspar]

Immigration has radically changed the character of Canada and should be an object lesson to the USA.

Canadians now have a buffoon for a leader, but no one in Montreal, Ottowa or Toronto cares.

Thus, Canada east of Saskatchewan, like Burundi or Sikkim, is irrelevant.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I don't know that this was a deliberate snub. I could be that Bush was busy visiting Asians while in Asia and just didn't have time to chat with Charles de Gaulle.

[PLMerite]

Then you introduce them to my favorite phrase: "Trample the weak, hurdle the dead."

[whereasandsoforth]

The Canadian government use to fit the USA like a comfortable old shoe. Now that shoe is pinching toes. You know how grumpy one can get when the feet hurt. It's time to put those shoes back in the box. Better yet, give them to Good Will and let someone else try them on for size.

[ellery]

What's a "Chrétien?"

[alloysteel]

"Trample the weak, hurdle the dead."

I like it. It is so, well, Imperial Rome. You may have started something evolving here....

[Eagle74]

Main Entry: cre·tin
Pronunciation: 'krE-t&n
Function: noun
Etymology: French crétin, from French dialect cretin, literally, wretch, innocent victim, from Latin christianus Christian
Date: 1779
1 : one afflicted with cretinism
2 : a stupid, vulgar, or insensitive person : CLOD, LOUT
- cre·tin·ous /-t&n-&s/ adjective

[Keith]

Many of us are old enough to remember the days when we felt valued by our Canadian neighbors who risked all to smuggle some of our embassy personnel from Iran out of the country during the hostage crisis. But that was before Canada started having all these French prime ministers. Can't you guys convince those idiots that MONTCALM LOST?!?!?!?!?

[Cdnexpat]

Sorry but Trudeau was PM then and he was every bit as anti-American as Chretien. The decision to hide the Americans was made on the ground by the Canadian ambassador to Iran, literaly when the US diplomatic personel showed up on his doorstep. So they were already Canada's responsiblity when Ottawa found out about it. The US may have been very disappointed if the decision was made in Ottawa instead of Iran (We'd really like to help but we can't maybe if you go see the British...)
The problem Chretien faces is that Americans now pay attention to what others say about them.

[paul51]

If not, we'll meet in pull-asides

Oh yeah? Pull on this